Beneath the Autumn Rain
by StarnightX
Summary: At Kakuzu's age, there are some memories that should remain forgotten. KakuzuxOC.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story will be a 3 part one-shot, because I can.**

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**Part I**

As he had grown older, Kakuzu had grown to dislike the rain, especially autumn rain. It was cold, and when this coldness seeped into his skin he could almost feel his age rise to the surface. He could almost see his shaking hands become wrinkled and spotted, and he became so aware of his breathing that he could almost feel it stop altogether.

Who was it that said that rain purifies?

The rain only revealed what Kakuzu wished to remain hidden.

"Can we get the hell outta this rain please!?" Kakuzu heard his partner complain. Without a word he scanned through the forest's trees to spot an old shack in the distance. His partner followed his line of sight. "Thank fucking Jashin!"

He pulled ahead, and Kakuzu followed.

The shack was old. Inside there were quite a few leaks, but it would do for now. As Kakuzu sat down he could hear it creak and moan beneath the rainfall. The shack was quite old…very old…Kakuzu closed his eyes for but a moment, before his partner started yapping again.

"You know you've been so fucking quiet for a while now! It's freakin' me out! Your age finally catch up to you old man!?"

Little did Hidan know that Kakuzu's age caught up to him long ago.

When he said nothing, Hidan started yelling again.

"C'mon don't leave me hanging ya old bastard!"

Kakuzu opened his eyes to glare at Hidan. "Take the first watch."

"Sweet fuckin' Jashin! The first immortal I meet and he turns out to be a fucking sack of bones! Why the fuck—" and so Hidan's rant began. Kakuzu and Hidan had only become partners a few months ago, but they had already settled into a routine. Admittedly Kakuzu was beyond frustrated with the fact that Hidan couldn't die—being a **true **immortal, but he had quickly learned to simply tone out Hidan's boisterous voice; even though, many times it proved to be too obnoxious to ignore indefinitely.

But today was different. Today it was raining. This was autumn's first downfall, and the pitter-pattering on the aging roof told Kakuzu the story it told every year. It began with the end.

On the day he had left his village, it had also been raining, but he couldn't hear the rain over his struggling breath. He couldn't hear the rain over her crying.

Hitomi.

"Kakuzu…"

The only thing she could say was his name because there wasn't really anything else she could say. He had made his decision. She knew it. He knew it. And they both knew nothing could change it.

Still she took a step forward, and he took a step back, shaking his head.

"Kakuzu," She repeated, more firmly than before though her voice still faltered. "Kakuzu…" In his name was the interlaced plea: _"Don't go."_

"Hitomi…" he could only whisper her name. He couldn't even look her in the eye as he said it. It's funny how when anger fades, it leaves behind a washed-up sort of feeling.

At the sound of her name, Hitomi dared to step forward again. This time Kakuzu did not step back. Gods be damned if he turned away from **her** of all people. And so she came closer, until she took his hand in her shaking one. She began to say something, but no words could come out. So he spoke for her:

"Come with me."

It was a stupid idea. They both knew it, but Kakuzu was on a victory high. If he could kill the village elders, if he could steal the most secret jutsu of their village, who's to say he couldn't protect her from Anbu as well? But how long could she run for him? How long could he fight for her?

The truth was their escape ended before they could even begin.

Hitomi could only cry and shake her head, her hand gripping his all the more.

A "sorry" choked up in his throat, but he wouldn't say it.

Couldn't say it.

And so he slipped his hand from hers, and turned towards the shadows of the forest. Somehow saying "goodbye" gave the illusion that they would one day meet again…

A rough punch in the shoulder jolted Kakuzu from his sleep. His hand instantly shot out and choked his attacker. In doing so Kakuzu also managed to crash the man through one of the shack's walls.

"Aw, fucking hell Kakuzu!"

Kakuzu growled, but released Hidan from his hold. The other man coughed as he managed to stand back up. "Hey! Don't fucking glare at me like that! It's time to change shifts ya know! Damn, I thought you fucking died! You weren't waking up!"

"If you want to sleep, then shut up and sleep or should I just bury you in the ground now?"

"I can't fucking die you know! Burying me's gonna do nothing!"

Kakuzu didn't bother to respond and moved to sit near the shack's entrance as Hidan hauled his ass inside. The heavy rain had become a softer drizzle while Kakuzu had been asleep. And with the heavy rain went his brief reminiscence. There was nothing more there.

The past was the past.

A mere memory.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry for being MIA.**

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**Part II**

As he had grown older, Kakuzu had grown to dislike the wind. While harmless for the most part, it was what the wind carried that Kakuzu had a problem with, a streamline of nostalgia that uncovered what should be remained hidden.

Today the autumn wind carried the scent of tea, and led him to the old teahouse he used to visit many times in his youth.

What were the odds that only a few days after the first autumn rain that he'd find himself back in his village? Had he been younger, Kakuzu would have told himself that he had no choice but to be here and that the words of the Akatsuki's leader were absolute.

But Kakuzu was old.

And he had learned begrudgingly with time that there was always a choice.

That was the only reason why he followed the autumn wind to Hitomi's teashop.

It still stood where it had always stood, and it looked the way it had always looked: the black tile roof, the wooden frame with white walls, the dark green vines that wound their way about the building, the crookedly placed potted plants that lined the front, the open windows. And while the customers dressed rather differently than from how they used to, they still seemed to enjoy the teashop as they've always had.

Yes.

The shop was the same as always.

Just then the wind grew stronger, pushing him, urging him to move forward.

And so Kakuzu found himself entering the teashop.

The first time he had entered the teashop those many years ago he was only 16. He wasn't particularly fond of tea at the time, but he did like being alone, away from his teachers, his teammates, and most of all his brother Keiga.

That day had been a slow day for teashop. So when Kakuzu had opened the door, causing the bells to chime, the girl who had been sweeping the floors beamed at him and urged him to come inside.

She didn't hesitate in taking his hand to lead him to a seat.

She didn't hesitate in sitting down with Kakuzu to keep him company.

She didn't hesitate in striking up light conversation.

Her voice was as warm as the tea she brewed, just as her presence was as calming and her eyes were just as loving.

"I'm Hitomi," she had said with a smile as bright as the sunlight that had streamed through the open windows.

"Kakuzu," he had grunted in reply, admittingly slightly annoyed.

The sound of a teacup being set down at his table snapped Kakuzu out of his thoughts. The waitress asked if he needed anything else, but he didn't even bother to answer, already taking a sip of his green tea. Taken aback she left, leaving Kakuzu alone once again.

The tea was hot like always, and just as bitter.

Just like him…

"I'm just realistic," Kakuzu remembered telling Hitomi one day.

She had laughed at him and said, "Then I guess I'm just a dreamer."

Kakuzu set his tea cup down with a little more force than necessary, as though he was trying to stamp out the memory. The sound alerted some of the other customers, and the previous waitress was hovering around him prepared to come to his aid whenever he saw fit to call for it.

Annoying.

The waitress was annoying, as were the customers. They were constantly talking, laughing and sipping their damn tea way too loud. And the tea was not the same. This tea was too bitter.

He was too bitter.

Then the wind came, the cold autumn wind. It blew through the tea house and an oddly melodic clattering noise followed it. Kakuzu's ears perked at the sound, and he couldn't keep his eyes from following the noise to the wind chime hanging at the window.

It was the wind chime Hitomi had made from the kunai Kakuzu had brought for her.

The kunai no longer had the shine that they used to have, rusting with age, and they certainly didn't sound as…pretty…as they used to, but in its sound Kakuzu could almost hear Hitomi's laugh.

And then it stopped.

The autumn wind. The kunai wind chime. And Hitomi's laughter.

Silently Kakuzu got up and left the teahouse, without paying of course. He had a job to do, and he had wasted enough time as it was.

Time was money.

Time is money.

And he had spent it on a ghost of a memory.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part III**

As he had grown older, Kakuzu had grown to dislike old people. Perhaps this came from when Takigakure had just begun developing as a village. Back when he had failed to assassinate Hashirama. He had returned to the village and—well, he became who he was today shortly after. The village elders had thought they had known what was best for the village and Kakuzu had decided that the village was better off without the elders.

However, since then it has been quite a long time since Kakuzu has even interacted with an elderly person, who he wasn't assigned to assassinate, extort, etcetera. Perhaps what Kakuzu didn't like then was not old people necessarily, but rather just seeing old people.

Their faces were crinkled and wrinkled like the autumn leaves…and on that note Kakuzu also really didn't like the trees' leaves in autumn. While many beheld in their colorful red, orange, and yellow beauty, Kakuzu saw no point in even describing the leaves to be beautiful in the first place. After all once autumn ended, most all those beautiful leaves became a dirty, musty brown.

Kakuzu was a realist after all.

But as he left his village, after successfully completing his mission, the autumn wind began stirring up again, swirling the leaves all about him. And as the wind began to die, and the leaves began to settle, he could spy a woman quite a ways down the road. She wore traditional clothing, an orange-yellow kimono, appropriate for the season. Her long, black hair ran down her back, and it was tied off with a red ribbon right near the end, just like the way Hitomi always wore her hair.

He stopped walking.

_"__It's not her_," Kakuzu's reason scolded himself, but he still couldn't find it in himself to continue walking. Instead his thoughts ran away from him. They tried to remember what Hitomi actually looked like, but failed. They could only remember her eyes: honey-brown and always crinkled with a smile.

Kakuzu drew away from his thoughts, returning his attention to the woman down the road.

"It's not her." This time Kakuzu said this aloud; he was a realist after all.

He blinked the woman was no longer there. He was alone on the road, surrounded by the autumn leaves.

As he began walking again, he noticed his footsteps, more specifically how audible they were. And all of a sudden he wondered where the birds were, where the dragonflies were, where the autumn wind was. His surroundings had suddenly become very still and very quiet, save for the sound of his footsteps.

But down the road he could see another person, from what he could tell an old woman. She crouched at the side of the road, picking small, light purple flowers.

Kakuzu thought nothing much of her, and continued on his way, determined to get away from Takigakure. As he did the wind began to pick up again, and just as he was near-approaching the old woman, she looked up at him.

Her eyes were honey-brown and crinkled with a smile.

Kakuzu found himself frozen. The old woman could clearly see his face, or at least what he showed of it, from where she was crouching. Her eyes were locked on his, and she kept the contact as she rose from her crouching position.

A slight moment passed, before she smiled at him and said, "Kakuzu, welcome home."

As much as he loathed to admit it, Kakuzu was, for a second, lost for words. Hitomi's hair was now a dingy gray, and while she was still thin, the skin on her face now slightly sagged and was riddled with freckles and wrinkles…but her eyes were still the same warm, honey-brown.

"You're alive," Kakuzu finally said, so quietly he was almost unsure on whether or not he had said that aloud.

"I am," Hitomi laughed. "And so are you."

Kakuzu became quiet again and very still. Hitomi seemed to sense his troubled thoughts. "I'm actually here you know. It's not a dream."

Kakuzu almost wanted to reach out to make sure, but refrained from doing so.

"But I **am** wondering if** I **am dreaming of you or not," Hitomi laughed again, but this time her laughter was weighed down with a hint of melancholy.

When Kakuzu still said nothing, Hitomi sighed, but smiled. "I'm happy you came home, even though you're already leaving. I'm sure Keiga would have been happy too."

"Where is Keiga?" Kakuzu had to ask.

Hitomi's smile faltered slightly. "He died many years ago…in the second war."

"I see. I—" Kakuzu stopped himself. He didn't really know what he could say to her. He shouldn't even be talking to her in the first place and yet…

Hitomi seemed to understand. Somehow she always did. "There's nothing for you to apologize for Kakuzu. If anything, I should be the one who's sorry."

"What for?" Kakuzu asked curtly.

"For not going with you those many years ago."

Kakuzu found himself to be truly speechless. If anyone had to be sorry, then it was—

"I'm glad to see that you're doing alright, and I'm glad I got to see you one more time" she continued, beginning to move past him, and before she started her way home, she looked at him once more. "Goodbye Kakuzu."

He didn't reply, and he didn't watch her go, but he could hear her footsteps slowly getting farther and farther away. It was not until her footsteps became dangerously faint that he turned his head. He could see her down the road gradually getting smaller.

She was still there.

She had always been there.

Silently cursing himself, Kakuzu began walking, and this time he did not look back. After all, what was one heart compared to five? What was one compared to eternity?


End file.
